Chapter 7 Managing Stress and Emotions

Create a Social Support Network

Just being able to talk with and listen to others, either with coworkers at work or with friends and family at home, can help decrease stress levels. create team atmosphere.

Stress

Stress is defined by psychologists as the body's reaction to a change that requires a physical, mental, or emotional adjustment or response

physiological work outcomes of stress

Stress manifests itself internally as nervousness, tension, headaches, anger, irritability, and fatigue. Stress manifests itself externally through skin disease and shutting down of immune system.

Sabbaticals

a leave of absence from the company to renew or develop skills common of colleges- moving into the normal work realm.

Affective Events Theory (AET).

a model that suggests that workplace events cause emotional reactions on the part of employees, which then influence workplace attitudes and behaviors

persona

a professional role that involves acting out feelings that may not be real as part of their job.

flow

a state of consciousness in which a person is totally absorbed in an activity. the state of mind in which you feel strong, alert, and in effortless control.

Deep acting

an employee will actively try to experience the emotion they are displaying. This genuine attempt at empathy helps align the emotions one is experiencing with the emotions one is displaying.

burnout

an ongoing negative emotional state resulting from dissatisfaction

Type B personalities

are calmer by nature. They think through situations as opposed to reacting emotionally. Their fight-or-flight and stress levels are lower as a result.

Stressors

are events or contexts that cause a stress reaction by elevating levels of adrenaline and forcing a physical or mental response. - not always bad but are cumulative - main stressors = money, work, and housing

Type A personalities

display high levels of speed/impatience, job involvement, and hard-driving competitiveness. -hostility and hyper-reactive portion of the Type A personality is a major concern in terms of stress and negative organizational outcomes

Men and women also handle stress differently

estrogen may heighten women's response to stress and their tendency to depression as a result. women's stronger social networks allow them to process stress more effectively than men. So while women may become depressed more often than men, women may also have better tools for countering emotion-related stress than their male counterparts.

self-awareness

exists when you are able to accurately perceive, evaluate, and display appropriate emotions.

self-management

exists when you are able to direct your emotions in a positive way when needed.

relationship management

exists when you are able to help others manage their own emotions and truly establish supportive relationships with others

Social awareness

exists when you are able to understand how others feel.

give employees autonomy

individuals who feel a greater sense of control at work deal with stress more effectively both in the United States and in Hong Kong

emotion

intense feeling resulting from some event -can influence whether a person is receptive to advice, whether they quit a job, and how they perform individually or on a team

surface acting

requires an individual to exhibit physical signs, such as smiling, that reflect emotions customers want to experience

cognitive dissonance

term that refers to a mismatch among emotions, attitudes, beliefs, and behavior, example, believing that you should always be polite to a customer regardless of personal feelings, yet having just been rude to one.

time management

the development of tools or techniques that help to make us more productive when we work. techniques include prioritizing, manageable organization, and keeping a schedule such as a paper or electronic organizing tool.

emotional labor

the regulation of feelings and expressions for organizational purposes 3 main parts: Surface acting Deep acting Genuine acting

genuine acting

when individuals are asked to display emotions that are aligned with their own. If a job requires genuine acting, less emotional labor is required because the actions are consistent with true feelings.

Corporate Athlete

If professionals trained their minds and bodies to perform at peak levels through better nutrition, focused training, and positive action.

Create Fair Work Environments

Working in an environment that is seen as fair helps to buffer the effects of stress

Top 10 Stressful Jobs

1. Inner city high school teacher 2. Police officer 3. Miner 4. Air traffic controller 5. Medical intern 6. Stockbroker 7. Journalist 8. Customer service or complaint worker 9. Secretary 10. Waiter

vacations and leisure

American's don't often take off enough time, 40% Americans don't plan on taking a vacation this yr. Europe usually take off the month of August.

Camden Property Trust (NYSE: CPT) has been named one of Fortune magazine's "100 Best Companies to Work For." In 2010

Because the company understood the importance of honesty and open communication with its staff, a strong sense of mutual respect had been developed and cultivated well before the crisis, and as a result the company was able to maintain the trust of its employees during the difficult time.

affect-driven behavior

Behavior that occurs when emotions trigger you to respond in a particular way.

emotion contagion

Both positive and negative emotions can be contagious, with the spillover of negative emotions lasting longer than positive emotions

psychological work outcomes of stress

Depression and anxiety

diet

Eat fish! fish has effect on two important brain chemicals—dopamine and norepinephrine—which produce a feeling of alertness, increased concentration, and faster reaction times

organizational approaches to managing stress

Organizations can help employees with stress by having more clear expectations of them, creating jobs where employees have autonomy and control, and creating a fair work environment. Finally, larger organizations normally utilize outside resources to help employees get professional help when needed.

role conflict

Refers to facing contradictory demands at work.

role ambiguity

Refers to vagueness in relation to what our responsibilities are. If you have started a new job and felt unclear about what you were expected to do, you have experienced role ambiguity. Having high role ambiguity is related to higher emotional exhaustion, more thoughts of leaving an organization, and lowered job attitudes and performance strongest predictor of poor performance

Telecommuting

Refers to working remotely. the higher autonomy of working from home resulted in lower work-family conflict for these employees.

exercise

Regular exercise increases our body's ability to draw more oxygen out of the air we breathe. Therefore, taking physically active breaks may be helpful in combating stress.

American Express dealing with death and money- connecting to customers emotionally

Sales representatives who looked at their job from the customer's point of view were flourishing. Their feelings and their words were in harmony. Clients trusted them.

resistance phase

Second phase of the GAS, during which the body adapts to and maintains resources to cope with the stressor. the body begins to release cortisol and draws on reserves of fats and sugars to find a way to adjust to the demands of stress. This reaction works well for short periods of time, but it is only a temporary fix. Individuals forced to endure the stress of cold and hunger may find a way to adjust to lower temperatures and less food.

distress

Selye referred to stress that led to disease as distress

eustress.

Selye referred to stress that was enjoyable or healing as eustress.

General Adaptation Syndrome

Seyle's concept that the body responds to stress with alarm, resistance and exhaustion within the immune system

sleep

Tired folks are more likely to lose their temper workers who suffer from insomnia are more likely to miss work due to exhaustion

Make Expectations Clear

Workers who have clear descriptions of their jobs experience less stress than those whose jobs are ill defined gentle conversation that steers a project in a clearer direction can be a simple but powerful way to reduce stress

Holmes and Rahe Scale

ascribes different stress values to life events ranging from the death of one's spouse to receiving a ticket for a minor traffic violation death of spouse= 100 getting married= 50 losing job= 47 If you scored over 300 stress points, you have an 80% chance of developing a stress-related illness in the near future.

exhaustion phase of GAS

body's resistance collapses, creating damage that can include susceptibility to infection, tumor growth, aging, irreversible organ damage, or death.

role overload

defined as having insufficient time and resources to complete a job. often occurs when an organization downsizes, the remaining employees will have to complete the tasks that were previously performed by the laid-off workers

alarm phase of stress

first phase of GAS When an outside stressor jolts the individual, insisting that something must be done. - fight-or-flight moment in the individual's experience. - If the response is sufficient, the body will return to its resting state after having successfully dealt with the source of stress.

Work That Flows

includes the following: -Challenge: the task is reachable but requires a stretch -Meaningfulness: the task is worthwhile or important -Competence: the task uses skills that you have -Choice: you have some say in the task and how it's carried out

Work-family conflict

occurs when the demands from work and family are negatively affecting one another

amygdala

is responsible for, among other things, stimulating fear responses. - fight or flight response.

OB Toolbox: To Cry or Not to Cry? That Is the Question...

little evidence in support of the hypothesis that shedding tears improves mood or health directly, be it in the short or in the long run Those who used humor were the most successful at combating stress

Emotional intelligence

looks at how people can understand each other more completely by developing an increased awareness of their own and others' emotions

information overload

occurring when the information processing demands on an individual's time to perform interactions and internal calculations exceed the supply or capacity of time available for such processing

Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs)

offered to workers as an adjunct to a company-provided health care plan. Small companies in particular use outside employee assistance programs, because they don't have the needed expertise in-house. used to help with crisis in and out of work place.

negative emotions

such as anger, fear, and sadness can result from undesired events. those who can manage their negative emotions finding themselves in fewer conflicts than those who do not.

positive emotions

such as joy, love, and surprise result from our reaction to desired events.